Microsoft backs Wembley

Microsoft signs as Wembley backer

Bill Gates and software giant Microsoft have signed to become first "Founding Partner" of the new Wembley stadium, in a five-year deal worth at least £5m. Officials at English football's new showpiece stadium will work with the US firm for one year of construction and for four years after completion.

Wembley is due to open in 2006, when it is expected to stage the FA Cup final.

Microsoft technology will be used in the stadium, and the firm will get use of the pitch for 90 minutes a year.



Complete story at the bbc... here

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Is Here!

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Is Here!

OpenOffice.org 2.0 is the productivity suite that individuals, governments, and corporations around the world have been expecting for the last two years. Easy to use and fluidly interoperable with every major office suite, OpenOffice.org 2.0 realises the potential of open source. Besides a powerful new database module and advanced XML capabilities, OpenOffice.org natively supports the internationally standardised OpenDocument format, which several countries, as well as the U.S. state of Massachusetts, have established as the default for office documents. More than any other suite, OpenOffice.org 2.0 gives users around the globe the tools to be engaged and productive members of their society.

To read the rest of the article, click Here

To download OOov2, click Here

Introducing VMWare Player

Introducing VMWare Player

VMware has released a free version of its popular virtulisation software dubbed VMWare Player
the downside? you can't create virtual machines, but you can run ones already created
I cant find the full press release on this yet, but you can find out more info here

Help Ubuntu smash bugs

Help Ubuntu smash bugs!

If you ever planned to get involved anywhere in the Ubuntu world, bug triage is definitely a good place to start. Now is the best time to get into Ubuntu development as well. We just released Breezy and we're all working on getting our desks clean and plan what to for Dapper. Apart from all that, doing bug triage is a most valuable contribution to Ubuntu, since this is direct contact with our users and it gives a direction where our development process should point. Everybody does bug triage these days, but the big teams (the Desktop team, the Kubuntu team and the MOTUs) will be there and help you getting into it. If you join #ubuntu-bugs you'll find the most active bug squashers and Ubugtu (our bug bot) already there. In our teams you'll find people that are happy to help you out and maybe you even consider to join one of them.

To read more, click Here

Intel slashes PC power-up times

Intel slashes PC power-up times

Intel has demonstrated a new technology that claims to significantly reduce the time it takes for a notebook PC to power up or access programs, while improving battery life. Intel's new "Robson" cache technology ensured an almost immediate start up of a Centrino-based notebook PC during a live demonstration at the Intel Developer Forum in Taipei, while a laptop with identical hardware but without Robson took several seconds to boot up.

For the complete story, click Here

Microsoft patch causing problems

Microsoft patch causing problems

Microsoft's critical security patches from last week are causing problems with some users. In particular, the patch issued to fix a critical hole in Windows 2000 (MS05-051) has seen the SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center (ISC) receive over two dozen reports of compatability issues, its CTO Johannes Ullrich said. Problems include an inability to use the Search tool in the operating system's Start Menu, a blank screen upon log-in to the Windows Update site and disruption of Symantec's LiveUpdate virus-updating tool and the SpySweeper anti-spyware product from Webroot.

For the complete story, click Here

XP SP3 Preview Package a Fake

XP SP3 Preview Package a Fake

A few weeks ago an "unofficial" preview release of windows XP SP3 hit the web. Now, Microsoft has responded and warned users of this preview package. "You would be well advised to stay clear of this FAKE SP3 package. It is NOT suitable for testing as it is NOT SP3."

Click Here to go to OS News.

Click Here to read about it on Google groups.

HP recalls 135,000 laptop battery packs

HP recalls 135,000 laptop battery packs

Hewlett Packard is recalling about 135,000 battery packs for some HP and Compaq laptop computers because of reports they overheated and melted, the Palo Alto, Calif., company announced Friday. The lithium ion rechargeable battery packs are used with HP Pavilion, Compaq Presario, HP Compaq and Compaq Evo laptop computers. The company has received 16 reports of the batteries' overheating; four cases occurred in the United States. The recalled packs bear a barcode label starting with GC, IA, L0 or L1. The battery packs were sold internationally from March 2004 through May 20005 by national and regional electronics stores and on Internet sites such as www.hp.com and www.hpshopping.com. Consumers should stop using the products and contact the company for a free replacement. For more information, call Hewlett-Packard at 888-404-7398 or visit www.hp.com/support/ or...

Ubuntu 5.10 Released

Ubuntu 5.10 Released

Don't be disappointed if you have a hard time connecting to a mirror site. You've got a lot of competition. -Trip

The Ubuntu team is proud to announce Ubuntu 5.10. This is the official Ubuntu 5.10 release, and includes installation CDs, live CDs, and combination DVDs for three architectures. Ubuntu is a Linux distribution for your desktop or server, with a fast and easy install, regular releases, a tight selection of excellent packages installed by default, every other package you can imagine available from the network, a commitment to security updates for 18 months after each release and professional technical support from many companies around the world.

To read the rest and access mirror sites, click Here.

Windows exploit already doing the rounds

Windows exploit already doing the rounds

Security researchers have already come up with a working exploit for a Windows 2000 bug patched on Tuesday, raising the spectre of another worm outbreak along the lines of Zotob in August. The hole relates to Microsoft's bulletin MS05-051, which details a "remote, unauthenticated attack vector" on Windows 2000 systems, the same as that exploited by Zotob. The vulnerabilies are in Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) and COM+, an iteration of the Microsoft Component Object Model, and could allow an attacker to execute malicious code on Windows 2000 systems.

To read more, click Here